No, it’s not meant to be an imitation of Harper Lee’s classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Not even close.

So, now that we have that out of the way, let’s carry on.

The other morning, Mama Jan opened the patio door like she or I often do in the morning to let the cat in. 

This is the same cat otherwise written about in a blog titled Toad, aka Cricket.

I noticed when he came over to the chair I was sitting on in our closet that his meow sounded sort of weird, and it seemed like he was breathing loudly.

I got on with my morning routine, and it was sometime later that Mama J called me to where she was sitting with this cat on her lap.

“This cat has been in a terrible fight,” she said.  “See?”

And I did see then.  Blood soaked and ran down from its mouth, onto his chest and all the way down his front legs.  His mouth was skewed off at a grotesque angle, and hung loosely open.  His eyes looked up at us pathetically.

“All of his front teeth are gone, he’ll never be able to eat,” said my good wife.

“He’ll need to be put down,” I said, “But I don’t feel like shooting a cat this morning.  I’ll call the vet to see if they can put him down.”

The secretary at the vet said to drop him by, since the vet was still in surgery and when she was out she’d take a look at him and put him down if it looked like that was the best option, or, if there was any hope then they’d call and we’d discuss our options.

Mama J dropped him off, turned around and began her 25 minute journey home. 

She wasn’t two minutes away when the vet called and said she could come pick up her cat.

It seems that as this rather obese cat was grooming himself sometime during the night, licking the thick fur under his chin, that his bottom fang snagged an excess fold of loose skin and when he lifted his head, his fang imbedded into that skin. 

He was effectively trapped by his own body.

Evidently when a cat’s mouth is thus detained, he drools rapaciously. 

And evidently when he drools like that for several hours, and paces about in desperation, dirt gathers onto the drool, and it looks like blood.

And, evidently when a flap of skin is caught on the teeth of the bottom jaw of a cat you can’t see any teeth and it appears like it has been in a terrible fight.

Evidently.